A sweeping criminal justice reform passed by Utah legislators in 2015 was intended to reduce a bloated prison population and emphasize rehabilitation.
State data shows that since the reforms, the percentage of racial minorities among new prisoners is on the rise. In the year before the reform, 34% of new prisoners were ethnic minorities. Three years later, that jumped to just over 43%.
It dipped down slightly last year, but the data has alarmed Utah officials and is prompting a new rule that is now under consideration — judges would be able to take a defendant’s race into account when deciding punishment.